74 files changed, 416 insertions, 844 deletions

diff --git a/gnu/packages/algebra.scm b/gnu/packages/algebra.scm
index 68a17039a7c..b70dd910991 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/algebra.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/algebra.scm
@@ -153,16 +153,10 @@ PARI is also available as a C library to allow for faster computations.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/bc/")
     (synopsis "Arbitrary precision numeric processing language")
     (description
-     "bc is an arbitrary precision numeric processing language. Syntax
-is similar to C, but differs in many substantial areas. It supports
-interactive execution of statements.  bc is a utility included in the
-POSIX P1003.2/D11 draft standard.
-
-Since the POSIX document does not specify how bc must be implemented,
-this version does not use the historical method of having bc be a
-compiler for the dc calculator.  This version has a single executable
-that both compiles the language and runs the resulting `byte code'. The
-byte code is not the dc language.")
+     "bc is an arbitrary precision numeric processing language.  It includes
+an interactive environment for evaluating mathematical statements.  Its
+syntax is similar to that of C, so basic usage is familiar.  It also includes
+\"dc\", a reverse-polish calculator.")
     (license gpl2+)))
 
 (define-public fftw
diff --git a/gnu/packages/aspell.scm b/gnu/packages/aspell.scm
index 0b8d7612667..c1db358a3ba 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/aspell.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/aspell.scm
@@ -40,14 +40,8 @@
     (home-page "http://aspell.net/")
     (synopsis "Spell checker")
     (description
-     "GNU Aspell is a free spell checker designed to eventually replace
-Ispell.  It can either be used as a library or as an independent spell
-checker.  Its main feature is that it does a superior job of suggesting
-possible replacements for a misspelled word than just about any other
-spell checker out there for the English language.  Unlike Ispell, Aspell
-can also easily check documents in UTF-8 without having to use a special
-dictionary.  Aspell will also do its best to respect the current locale
-setting.  Other advantages over Ispell include support for using
-multiple dictionaries at once and intelligently handling personal
-dictionaries when more than one Aspell process is open at once.")
+     "Aspell is a spell-checker which can be used either as a library or as
+a standalone program.  Notable features of Aspell include its full support of
+documents written in the UTF-8 encoding and its ability to use multiple
+dictionaries, including personal ones.")
     (license lgpl2.1+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/autotools.scm b/gnu/packages/autotools.scm
index 580e43eff30..ab0c7dcbdfe 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/autotools.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/autotools.scm
@@ -52,13 +52,11 @@
      "http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/")
     (synopsis "Create source code configuration scripts")
     (description
-     "GNU Autoconf is an extensible package of M4 macros that produce
-shell scripts to automatically configure software source code
-packages.  These scripts can adapt the packages to many kinds of
-UNIX-like systems without manual user intervention.  Autoconf
-creates a configuration script for a package from a template
-file that lists the operating system features that the package
-can use, in the form of M4 macro calls.")
+     "Autoconf offers the developer a robust set of M4 macros which expand
+into shell code to test the features of Unix-like systems and to adapt
+automatically their software package to these systems.  The resulting shell
+scripts are self-contained and portable, freeing the user from needing to
+know anything about Autoconf or M4.")
     (license gpl3+))) ; some files are under GPLv2+
 
 (define-public autoconf-wrapper
@@ -202,9 +200,10 @@ exec ~a --no-auto-compile \"$0\" \"$@\"
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/")
     (synopsis "Making GNU standards-compliant Makefiles")
     (description
-     "GNU Automake is a tool for automatically generating
-`Makefile.in' files compliant with the GNU Coding
-Standards.  Automake requires the use of Autoconf.")
+     "Automake the part of the GNU build system for producing standards-
+compliant Makefiles.  Build requirements are entered in an intuitive format
+and then Automake works with Autoconf to produce a robust Makefile,
+simplifying the entire process for the developer.")
     (license gpl2+)))                      ; some files are under GPLv3+
 
 (define-public libtool
@@ -258,11 +257,8 @@ Standards.  Automake requires the use of Autoconf.")
                ,(search-patch "libtool-skip-tests.patch"))))
     (synopsis "Generic shared library support tools")
     (description
-     "GNU libtool is a generic library support script.  Libtool hides the
-complexity of using shared libraries behind a consistent, portable interface.
-
-To use libtool, add the new generic library building commands to your
-Makefile, Makefile.in, or Makefile.am.  See the documentation for
-details.")
+     "Libtool is a script to help in the creation of shared libraries.  By
+presenting a consistent, portable interface, it hides the complexity of
+building usable shared libraries.")
     (license gpl3+)
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/base.scm b/gnu/packages/base.scm
index f5baf1a612a..8cee8f850b0 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/base.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/base.scm
@@ -63,7 +63,10 @@
                                  (assoc-ref %build-inputs "gawk")))))
    (inputs `(("gawk" ,gawk)))
    (synopsis "Hello, GNU world: An example GNU package")
-   (description "Yeah...")
+   (description
+    "GNU Hello prints the message \"Hello, world!\" and then exits.  It
+serves as an example of standard GNU coding practices.  As such, it supports
+command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/")
    (license gpl3+)))
 
@@ -81,9 +84,12 @@
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (synopsis "Print lines matching a pattern")
    (description
-    "The grep command searches one or more input files for lines containing a
-match to a specified pattern.  By default, grep prints the matching
-lines.")
+    "grep is a tool for finding text inside files.  Text is found by
+matching a pattern provided by the user in one or many files.  The pattern
+may be provided as a basic, extended, or Perl-style regular expression, as
+well as a list of fixed strings.  By default, the matching text is simply
+printed to the screen, however the output can be greatly customized to
+include, for example, line numbers.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/grep/")))
 
@@ -114,11 +120,10 @@ lines.")
                            (string-append bash "/bin/bash")))))
                     %standard-phases))))
    (description
-    "Sed (stream editor) isn't really a true text editor or text processor.
-Instead, it is used to filter text, i.e., it takes text input and performs
-some operation (or set of operations) on it and outputs the modified text.
-Sed is typically used for extracting part of a file using pattern matching or
-substituting multiple occurrences of a string within a file.")
+    "Sed is a non-interactive, text stream editor.  It receives a text
+input from a file or from standard input and it then applies a series of text
+editing commands to the stream and prints its output to standard output.  It
+is often used for substituting text patterns in a stream.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/sed/")))
 
@@ -139,16 +144,11 @@ substituting multiple occurrences of a string within a file.")
     `(#:patches (list (assoc-ref %build-inputs "patch/gets"))))
    (synopsis "Managing tar archives")
    (description
-    "The Tar program provides the ability to create tar archives, as well as
-various other kinds of manipulation.  For example, you can use Tar on
-previously created archives to extract files, to store additional files, or
-to update or list files which were already stored.
-
-Initially, tar archives were used to store files conveniently on magnetic
-tape.  The name \"Tar\" comes from this use; it stands for tape archiver.
-Despite the utility's name, Tar can direct its output to available devices,
-files, or other programs (using pipes), it can even access remote devices or
-files (as archives).")
+    "Tar provides the ability to create tar archives, as well as the
+ability to extract, update or list files in an existing archive.  It is
+useful for combining many files into one larger file, while maintaining
+directory structure and file information such as permissions and
+creation/modification dates.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/")))
 
@@ -172,9 +172,11 @@ files (as archives).")
     )
    (synopsis "Apply differences to originals, with optional backups")
    (description
-    "GNU Patch takes a patch file containing a difference listing produced by
-the diff program and applies those differences to one or more original files,
-producing patched versions.")
+    "Patch is a program that applies changes to files based on differences
+laid out by the program \"diff\".  The changes may be applied to one or more
+files depending on the contents of the diff file.  It accepts several
+different diff formats.  It may also be used to revert previously applied
+differences.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/patch/")))
 
@@ -192,31 +194,11 @@ producing patched versions.")
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (synopsis "Comparing and merging files")
    (description
-    "GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding
-differences between files.
-
-Computer users often find occasion to ask how two files differ. Perhaps one
-file is a newer version of the other file. Or maybe the two files started out
-as identical copies but were changed by different people.
-
-You can use the diff command to show differences between two files, or each
-corresponding file in two directories. diff outputs differences between files
-line by line in any of several formats, selectable by command line
-options. This set of differences is often called a ‘diff’ or ‘patch’. For
-files that are identical, diff normally produces no output; for
-binary (non-text) files, diff normally reports only that they are different.
-
-You can use the cmp command to show the offsets and line numbers where two
-files differ. cmp can also show all the characters that differ between the
-two files, side by side.
-
-You can use the diff3 command to show differences among three files. When two
-people have made independent changes to a common original, diff3 can report
-the differences between the original and the two changed versions, and can
-produce a merged file that contains both persons' changes together with
-warnings about conflicts.
-
-You can use the sdiff command to merge two files interactively.")
+    "Diffutils is a package containing several tool for finding the
+differences between files.  The diff command is used to show how two files
+differ, while cmp shows the offsets and line numbers where they differ. 
+diff3 allows you to compare three files.  Finally, sdiff offers an
+interactive means to merge two files.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/")))
 
@@ -245,18 +227,12 @@ You can use the sdiff command to merge two files interactively.")
             '())))
    (synopsis "Operating on files matching given criteria")
    (description
-    "The GNU Find Utilities are the basic directory searching utilities of
-the GNU operating system.  These programs are typically used in conjunction
-with other programs to provide modular and powerful directory search and file
-locating capabilities to other commands.
-
-The tools supplied with this package are:
-
-  * find - search for files in a directory hierarchy;
-  * locate - list files in databases that match a pattern;
-  * updatedb - update a file name database;
-  * xargs - build and execute command lines from standard input.
-")
+    "Findutils supplies the basic file directory searching utilities of the
+GNU system.  It consists of two primary searching utilities: \"find\"
+recursively searches for files in a directory according to given criteria and
+\"locate\" lists files in a database that match a query.  Two auxiliary tools
+are included: \"updatedb\" updates a file name database and \"xargs\" may be used
+to apply commands to file search results.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/")))
 
@@ -297,9 +273,10 @@ The tools supplied with this package are:
                 %standard-phases)))
    (synopsis "Core GNU utilities (file, text, shell)")
    (description
-    "The GNU Core Utilities are the basic file, shell and text manipulation
-utilities of the GNU operating system.  These are the core utilities which
-are expected to exist on every operating system.")
+    "Coreutils includes all of the basic commandline tools that are
+expected in a POSIX system.  These provide the basic file, shell and text
+manipulation functions of the GNU system.  Most of these tools offer extended
+functionality beyond that which is outlined in the POSIX standard.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/")))
 
@@ -332,13 +309,12 @@ are expected to exist on every operating system.")
                 %standard-phases)))
    (synopsis "Remake files automatically")
    (description
-    "Make is a tool which controls the generation of executables and other
-non-source files of a program from the program's source files.
-
-Make gets its knowledge of how to build your program from a file called the
-makefile, which lists each of the non-source files and how to compute it from
-other files. When you write a program, you should write a makefile for it, so
-that it is possible to use Make to build and install the program.")
+    "Make is a program that is used to control the production of
+executables or other files from their source files.  The process is
+controlled from a Makefile, in which the developer specifies how each file is
+generated from its source.  It has powerful dependency resolution and the
+ability to determine when files have to be regenerated after their sources
+change.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/make/")))
 
@@ -378,9 +354,11 @@ that it is possible to use Make to build and install the program.")
 
    (synopsis "Binary utilities: bfd gas gprof ld")
    (description
-    "The GNU Binutils are a collection of binary tools.  The main ones are
-`ld' (the GNU linker) and `as' (the GNU assembler).  They also include the
-BFD (Binary File Descriptor) library, `gprof', `nm', `strip', etc.")
+    "GNU Binutils is a collection of tools for working with binary files.
+Most notable are \"ld\", a linker, and \"as\", an assembler.  Several other tools
+are included, such as a program to display binary profiling information, a
+tool to list the strings in a binary file, and tools for working with
+archives.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/")))
 
diff --git a/gnu/packages/bash.scm b/gnu/packages/bash.scm
index aa3f397a529..bc91993978b 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/bash.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/bash.scm
@@ -85,13 +85,12 @@
                                    %standard-phases)))
      (synopsis "The GNU Bourne-Again SHell")
      (description
-      "Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in
-the GNU operating system.  Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates
-useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh).  It is intended
-to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.2 Shell and Tools standard.  It
-offers functional improvements over sh for both programming and interactive
-use.  In addition, most sh scripts can be run by Bash without
-modification.")
+      "Bash is the shell, or commandline interpreter, of the GNU system.  It
+is compatible with the Bourne Shell, but it also integrates useful features
+from the Korn Shell and the C Shell and new improvements of its own.  It
+allows commandline editing, unlimited command history, shell functions and
+aliases, and job control while still allowing most sh scripts to be run
+without modification.")
      (license gpl3+)
      (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/"))))
 
diff --git a/gnu/packages/bison.scm b/gnu/packages/bison.scm
index 2d2209c4ff2..8782096cf05 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/bison.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/bison.scm
@@ -46,15 +46,8 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/")
     (synopsis "Parser generator")
     (description
-     "Bison is a general-purpose parser generator that converts an
-annotated context-free grammar into an LALR(1) or GLR parser for
-that grammar.  Once you are proficient with Bison, you can use
-it to develop a wide range of language parsers, from those used
-in simple desk calculators to complex programming languages.
-
-Bison is upward compatible with Yacc: all properly-written Yacc
-grammars ought to work with Bison with no change.  Anyone
-familiar with Yacc should be able to use Bison with little
-trouble.  You need to be fluent in C or C++ programming in order
-to use Bison.")
+     "Bison is a general-purpose parser generator.  It can build a
+deterministic LR or generalized LR parser from an annotated, context- free
+grammar.  It is versatile enough to have a wide variety of applications, from
+parsers for simple tools up to parsers for complex programming languages.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/cdrom.scm b/gnu/packages/cdrom.scm
index 40480fa704c..49840ad69f8 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/cdrom.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/cdrom.scm
@@ -85,9 +85,11 @@ caching facility provided by the library.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libcdio/")
     (synopsis "CD Input and Control library")
     (description
-     "GNU libcdio is a library for OS-idependent CD-ROM and CD image access.
-It includes a library for working with ISO-9660 filesystems (libiso9660), as
-well as utility programs such as an audio CD player and an extractor.")
+     "The GNU Compact Disc Input and Control Library (libcdio) is a library
+for CD-ROM and CD image file access.  It allows the developer to add CD
+access to an application without having to worry about the OS- and
+device-dependent properties of CD-ROM or the specific details of CD image
+formats.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public xorriso
@@ -111,12 +113,11 @@ well as utility programs such as an audio CD player and an extractor.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/xorriso/")
     (synopsis "Create, manipulate, burn ISO-9660 filesystems")
     (description
-     "GNU xorriso copies file objects from POSIX compliant filesystems into
-Rock Ridge enhanced ISO 9660 filesystems and allows session-wise manipulation
-of such filesystems.  It can load the management information of existing ISO
-images and it writes the session results to optical media or to filesystem
-objects.  Vice versa xorriso is able to copy file objects out of ISO 9660
-filesystems.")
+     "xorriso is a tool for copying files to and from ISO 9660 Rock Ridge,
+a.k.a Compact Disc File System, filesystems and it allows session- wise
+manipulation of them.  It features a formatter and burner for CD DVD and BD. 
+It can operate on existing ISO images or it can create new ones.  xorriso can
+then be used to copy files directly into or out of ISO files.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public cdparanoia
diff --git a/gnu/packages/cflow.scm b/gnu/packages/cflow.scm
index caf690bc4ce..52552e3fe1b 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/cflow.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/cflow.scm
@@ -38,14 +38,8 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/cflow/")
     (synopsis "Create a graph of control flow within a program")
     (description
-     "GNU cflow analyzes a collection of C source files and prints a
-graph, charting control flow within the program.
-
-GNU cflow is able to produce both direct and inverted flowgraphs
-for C sources.  Optionally a cross-reference listing can be
-generated.  Two output formats are implemented: POSIX and GNU
-(extended).
-
-The package also provides Emacs major mode for examining the
-produced flowcharts in Emacs.")
+     "cflow analyzes C source files and produces a graph charting the
+control flow of the program.  It can output the graph in several styles and
+in either the POSIX format or in an extended GNU format. cflow also includes
+a major mode for Emacs for examining the flowcharts that it produces.")
    (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/compression.scm b/gnu/packages/compression.scm
index 0536cd9ed9b..df0acd9cc21 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/compression.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/compression.scm
@@ -80,13 +80,7 @@ in compression.")
     ;; FIXME: The test suite wants `less', and optionally Perl.
     '(#:tests? #f))
    (description
-    "gzip (GNU zip) is a popular data compression program written by Jean-loup
-Gailly for the GNU project.  Mark Adler wrote the decompression part.
-
-We developed this program as a replacement for compress because of the Unisys
-and IBM patents covering the LZW algorithm used by compress.  These patents
-made it impossible for us to use compress, and we needed a replacement.  The
-superior compression ratio of gzip is just a bonus.")
+    "GNU Gzip is a data compression and decompression program.")
    (license license:gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/")))
 
diff --git a/gnu/packages/cpio.scm b/gnu/packages/cpio.scm
index 43d5a1e6232..e9d9bd5adfb 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/cpio.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/cpio.scm
@@ -39,14 +39,9 @@
     (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/cpio/")
     (synopsis "Manage cpio and tar file archives")
     (description
-     "GNU Cpio copies files into or out of a cpio or tar archive. The
-archive can be another file on the disk, a magnetic tape, or a pipe.
-
-GNU Cpio supports the following archive formats: binary, old ASCII, new
-ASCII, crc, HPUX binary, HPUX old ASCII, old tar, and POSIX.1 tar. The
-tar format is provided for compatability with the tar program. By
-default, cpio creates binary format archives, for compatibility with
-older cpio programs. When extracting from archives, cpio automatically
-recognizes which kind of archive it is reading and can read archives
-created on machines with a different byte-order.")
+     "Cpio copies files into or out of cpio or tar archives.  In fact, many
+formats are supported, including legacy formats.  The format is determined
+automatically by the program and is handled appropriately. Furthermore, the
+location of the archive is not important.  It can be another file on the
+drive, a tape, or data on a pipe.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/cppi.scm b/gnu/packages/cppi.scm
index d28fc40173d..fc117162bb9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/cppi.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/cppi.scm
@@ -37,9 +37,8 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/cppi/")
     (synopsis "Indent C preprocessor directives to reflect nesting and more")
     (description
-     "GNU cppi indents C preprocessor directives to reflect their nesting and
-ensure that there is exactly one space character between each #if, #elif,
-#define directive and the following token.  The number of spaces between the
-`#' and the following directive must correspond to the level of nesting of
-that directive.")
+     "GNU Cppi processes C source code files to properly indent the
+preprocessor directives to reflect their nesting.  It also performs other
+standardizations, such as correcting the number of spaces between directives
+and the text following them.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/ddrescue.scm b/gnu/packages/ddrescue.scm
index f990199a621..13fac28cc20 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/ddrescue.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/ddrescue.scm
@@ -40,19 +40,8 @@
     (synopsis "Data recovery utility")
     (native-inputs `(("lzip" ,lzip)))
     (description
-     "GNU Ddrescue is a data recovery tool.  It copies data from one
-file or block device (e.g., hard disk, CD-ROM) to another, trying hard to
-rescue data in case of read errors.
-
-The basic operation of Ddrescue is fully automatic.  That is, you don't
-have to wait for an error, stop the program, read the log, run it in
-reverse mode, etc.
-
-If you use the logfile feature of Ddrescue, the data is rescued very
-efficiently (only the needed blocks are read).  Also, you can interrupt
-the rescue at any time and resume it later at the same point.
-
-Automatic merging of backups: If you have two or more damaged copies of
-a file and run Ddrescue on all of them, one at a time, with the same
-output file, you will probably obtain a complete and error-free file.")
+     "Ddrescue is a fully automated data recovery tool.  It copies data from
+one file to another, working to rescue data in case of read errors.  The
+program also includes a tool for manipulating its log- files, which are used
+to recover data more efficiently by only reading the necessary blocks.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/dejagnu.scm b/gnu/packages/dejagnu.scm
index 3318c817267..b32772b2158 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/dejagnu.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/dejagnu.scm
@@ -77,12 +77,8 @@
      "http://www.gnu.org/software/dejagnu/")
     (synopsis "GNU software testing framework")
     (description
-     "DejaGnu is a framework for testing other programs.  Its purpose
-is to provide a single front end for all tests.  Think of it as a
-custom library of Tcl procedures crafted to support writing a
-test harness.  A test harness is the testing infrastructure that
-is created to support a specific program or tool.  Each program
-can have multiple testsuites, all supported by a single test
-harness.  DejaGnu is written in Expect, which in turn uses Tcl --
-Tool command language.")
+     "DejaGnu is a framework for testing software.  In effect, it serves as
+a front-end for all tests written for a program.  Thus, each program can have
+multiple test suites, which are then all managed by a single, so-called \"test
+harness.\"")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/ed.scm b/gnu/packages/ed.scm
index b662b59a86b..4a2d5244176 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/ed.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/ed.scm
@@ -45,12 +45,9 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/ed/")
     (synopsis "Line-oriented text editor")
     (description
-     "GNU ed is a line-oriented text editor.  It is used to create,
-display, modify and otherwise manipulate text files, both
-interactively and via shell scripts.  A restricted version of ed,
-red, can only edit files in the current directory and cannot
-execute shell commands.  Ed is the \"standard\" text editor in the
-sense that it is the original editor for Unix, and thus widely
-available.  For most purposes, however, it is superseded by
-full-screen editors such as GNU Emacs or GNU Moe.")
+     "Ed is a line-oriented text editor: rather than offering an overview of
+a document, ed performs editing one line at a time.  It can be operated both
+interactively and via shell scripts.  Its method of command input allows
+complex tasks to be performed in an automated way, however it has largely
+been superceded by full-screen editors like Emacs or Moe.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/emacs.scm b/gnu/packages/emacs.scm
index 53ec9a04b75..181e2c47eed 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/emacs.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/emacs.scm
@@ -89,20 +89,13 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/")
     (synopsis "The extensible, customizable, self-documenting text editor")
     (description
-     "GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more.  At its
-core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp
-programming language with extensions to support text editing.
-
-The features of GNU Emacs include: content-sensitive editing modes,
-including syntax coloring, for a wide variety of file types including
-plain text, source code, and HTML; complete built-in documentation,
-including a tutorial for new users; full Unicode support for nearly all
-human languages and their scripts; highly customizable, using Emacs
-Lisp code or a graphical interface; a large number of extensions that
-add other functionality, including a project planner, mail and news
-reader, debugger interface, calendar, and more.  Many of these
-extensions are distributed with GNU Emacs; others are available
-separately.")
+     "Emacs is an extensible and highly customizable text editor.  It is
+based on an Emacs Lisp interpreter which has extensions to support text
+editing.  Due to its unique structure, it can be configured in an infinite
+multitude of ways, which has given rise to a vast array of packages that have
+been written for it that do everything from working as an email client to
+communicating online via IRC or XMPP.  Emacs is fully self-documenting and it
+features full Unicode support for nearly every human language.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 
diff --git a/gnu/packages/fdisk.scm b/gnu/packages/fdisk.scm
index 6248feb98bf..dca77c4d6ee 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/fdisk.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/fdisk.scm
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
     (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/fdisk/")
     (synopsis "Low-level disk partitioning and formatting")
     (description
-     "GNU Fdisk provides alternatives to util-linux fdisk and util-linux
-cfdisk.  It uses GNU Parted.")
+     "GNU fdisk provides a GNU version of the common disk partitioning tool
+fdisk.  fdisk is used for the creation and manipulation of disk partition
+tables, and it understands a variety of different formats.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/freeipmi.scm b/gnu/packages/freeipmi.scm
index a122f7e00c4..06917e19496 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/freeipmi.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/freeipmi.scm
@@ -41,13 +41,9 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/freeipmi/")
     (synopsis "Platform management, including sensor and power monitoring")
     (description
-     "GNU FreeIPMI provides in-band and out-of-band IPMI software based on the
-IPMI v1.5/2.0 specification.  The IPMI specification defines a set of
-interfaces for platform management and is implemented by a number vendors for
-system management.  The features of IPMI that most users will be interested in
-are sensor monitoring, system event monitoring, power control, and
-serial-over-LAN (SOL).  The FreeIPMI tools and libraries listed below should
-provide users with the ability to access and utilize these and many other
-features.  A number of useful features for large HPC or cluster environments
-have also been implemented into FreeIPMI.")
+     "FreeIPMI is a collection of in-band and out-of-band IPMI software in
+accordance with the IPMI v1.5/2.0 specification.  These programs provide a
+set of interfaces for platform management.  Common functionality includes
+sensor monitoring, system event monitoring, power control and
+serial-over-LAN.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gawk.scm b/gnu/packages/gawk.scm
index aff856d9f31..06895f20dd8 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gawk.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gawk.scm
@@ -65,14 +65,9 @@
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/")
    (synopsis "A text scanning and processing language")
    (description
-    "Many computer users need to manipulate text files: extract and then
-operate on data from parts of certain lines while discarding the rest, make
-changes in various text files wherever certain patterns appear, and so on.
-To write a program to do these things in a language such as C or Pascal is a
-time-consuming inconvenience that may take many lines of code.  The job is
-easy with awk, especially the GNU implementation: Gawk.
-
-The awk utility interprets a special-purpose programming language that makes
-it possible to handle many data-reformatting jobs with just a few lines of
-code.")
+    "Gawk is an implementation of Awk, a specialised programming language
+for the easy manipulation of formatted text, such as tables of data. The GNU
+implementation of Awk features a number of extensions beyond the traditional
+implementations, making writing powerful text manipulation scripts a simple
+task compared to writing similar programs in C.")
    (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gcal.scm b/gnu/packages/gcal.scm
index d6adc8083d0..ae61fa2299a 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gcal.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gcal.scm
@@ -37,13 +37,11 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gcal")
     (synopsis "Calculating and printing a wide variety of calendars")
     (description
-     "Gcal is a program for calculating and printing calendars.  Gcal displays
-hybrid and proleptic Julian and Gregorian calendar sheets,respectively for one
-month, three months, or a whole year.  It also displays eternal holiday lists
-for many countries around the globe, and features a very powerful creation of
-fixed date lists that can be used for reminding purposes.  Gcal can calculate
-various astronomical data and times of the Sun and the Moon for pleasure at
-any location, precisely enough for most civil purposes.  Gcal supports some
-other calendar systems, for example, the Chinese and Japanese calendars, the
-Hebrew calendar, and the civil Islamic calendar, too.")
+     "Gcal is a program to calculate and print calendars on the command-
+line.  Calendars can be printed in 1-month, 3-month or whole-year views. In
+addition, eternal holiday lists can be generated for many countries, which
+can be complemented by user-made lists of fixed dates to make an agenda. 
+Gcal can also calculate astronomical data, such as the phases of the moon,
+and supports alternative calendar formats: Julian, Gregorian, Islamic,
+Chinese and more.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gcc.scm b/gnu/packages/gcc.scm
index c1a2ce61c5b..cececcacd39 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gcc.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gcc.scm
@@ -194,12 +194,9 @@ where the OS part is overloaded to denote a specific ABI---into GCC
       (properties `((gcc-libc . ,(assoc-ref inputs "libc"))))
       (synopsis "GNU Compiler Collection")
       (description
-       "The GNU Compiler Collection includes compiler front ends for C, C++,
-Objective-C, Fortran, OpenMP for C/C++/Fortran, Java, and Ada, as well as
-libraries for these languages (libstdc++, libgcj, libgomp,...).
-
-GCC development is a part of the GNU Project, aiming to improve the compiler
-used in the GNU system including the GNU/Linux variant.")
+       "GCC is the GNU Compiler Collection.  It provides compiler front-ends
+for several languages, including C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Java, Ada, and
+Go.  It also includes standard libraries for these languages.")
       (license gpl3+)
       (home-page "http://gcc.gnu.org/"))))
 
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gdb.scm b/gnu/packages/gdb.scm
index 0afe5e6f6a0..09e00aaeb12 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gdb.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gdb.scm
@@ -59,7 +59,9 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/")
     (synopsis "The GNU debugger")
     (description
-     "GDB, the GNU Project debugger, allows you to see what is going
-on `inside' another program while it executes -- or what another
-program was doing at the moment it crashed.")
+     "GDB is the GNU debugger.  With it, you can monitor what a program is
+doing while it runs or what it was doing just before a crash.  It allows you
+to specify the runtime conditions, to define breakpoints, and to change how
+the program is running to try to fix bugs.  It can be used to debug programs
+written in C, C++, Ada, Objective-C, Pascal and more.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gdbm.scm b/gnu/packages/gdbm.scm
index 6159cc25dab..a43db9243ea 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gdbm.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gdbm.scm
@@ -40,19 +40,7 @@
     (synopsis
      "Hash library of database functions compatible with traditional dbm")
     (description
-     "GNU dbm (or GDBM, for short) is a library of database functions
-that use extensible hashing and work similar to the standard UNIX dbm.
-These routines are provided to a programmer needing to create and
-manipulate a hashed database.
-
-The basic use of GDBM is to store key/data pairs in a data file.  Each
-key must be unique and each key is paired with only one data item.
-
-The library provides primitives for storing key/data pairs, searching
-and retrieving the data by its key and deleting a key along with its
-data.  It also support sequential iteration over all key/data pairs in a
-database.
-
-For compatibility with programs using old UNIX dbm function, the package
-also provides traditional dbm and ndbm interfaces.")
+     "GDBM is a library for manipulating hashed databases.  It is used to
+store key/value pairs in a file in a manner similar to the Unix dbm library
+and provides interfaces to the traditional file format.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gettext.scm b/gnu/packages/gettext.scm
index 399d96784c7..07d2b0d8cb7 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gettext.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gettext.scm
@@ -52,20 +52,9 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/")
     (synopsis "Tools and documentation for translation")
     (description
-     "Usually, programs are written and documented in English, and use
-English at execution time for interacting with users.  Using a common
-language is quite handy for communication between developers,
-maintainers and users from all countries.  On the other hand, most
-people are less comfortable with English than with their own native
-language, and would rather be using their mother tongue for day to
-day's work, as far as possible.  Many would simply love seeing their
-computer screen showing a lot less of English, and far more of their
-own language.
-
-GNU `gettext' is an important step for the GNU Translation Project, as
-bit is an asset on which we may build many other steps. This package
-offers to programmers, translators, and even users, a well integrated
-set of tools and documentation. Specifically, the GNU `gettext'
-utilities are a set of tools that provides a framework to help other
-GNU packages produce multi-lingual messages.")
+     "gettext is a set of tools and documentation that provide a framework
+for translating the textual output of programs into multiple languages.  It
+provides translators with the means to create message catalogs, as well as an
+Emacs mode to work with them, and a runtime library to load translated
+messages from the catalogs.")
     (license gpl3))) ; some files are under GPLv2+
diff --git a/gnu/packages/ghostscript.scm b/gnu/packages/ghostscript.scm
index 7df1f6c17e5..6d32b420435 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/ghostscript.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/ghostscript.scm
@@ -165,10 +165,10 @@ printing, and psresize, for adjusting page sizes.")
       %standard-phases)))))
    (synopsis "PostScript and PDF interpreter")
    (description
-    "GNU Ghostscript is an interpreter for PostScript and Portable Document
-Format (PDF) files.
-It consists of a PostScript interpreter layer, and a graphics
-library.")
+    "Ghostscript is an interpreter for the PostScript language and the PDF
+file format.  It also includes a C library that implements the graphics
+capabilities of the PostScript language.  It supports a wide variety of
+output file formats and printers.")
    (license license:gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/ghostscript/")))
 
diff --git a/gnu/packages/global.scm b/gnu/packages/global.scm
index 836962c8f8f..2d4cd31bd96 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/global.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/global.scm
@@ -46,12 +46,8 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/global/")
     (synopsis "Cross-environment source code tag system")
     (description
-     "GNU GLOBAL is a source code tagging system that works the same way
-across diverse environments (Emacs, vi, less, Bash, web browser, etc).
-You can locate specified objects in source files and move there easily.
-It is useful for hacking a large project containing many
-subdirectories, many #ifdef and many main() functions.  It is similar
-to ctags or etags but is different from them at the point of
-independence of any editor.  It runs on a UNIX (POSIX) compatible
-operating system like GNU and BSD.")
+     "GLOBAL is a source code tagging system that functions in the same way
+across a wide array of environments, such as different text editors, shells
+and web browsers.  The resulting tags are useful for quickly moving around in
+a large, deeply nested project.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gnunet.scm b/gnu/packages/gnunet.scm
index 54033851a2e..86abb7b5bfd 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gnunet.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gnunet.scm
@@ -80,21 +80,11 @@
       ("zlib" ,zlib)))
    (synopsis "Library to extract meta-data from media files")
    (description
-    "GNU Libextractor is a library used to extract meta data from files.
-The goal is to provide developers of file-sharing networks, browsers or
-WWW-indexing bots with a universal library to obtain simple keywords and
-meta data to match against queries and to show to users instead of only
-relying on filenames. libextractor contains the shell command extract that,
-similar to the well-known file command, can extract meta data from a file
-and print the results to stdout.
-
-Currently, libextractor supports the following formats: HTML, MAN, PS, DVI,
-OLE2 (DOC, XLS, PPT), OpenOffice (sxw), StarOffice (sdw), FLAC,
-MP3 (ID3v1 and ID3v2), OGG, WAV, S3M (Scream Tracker 3), XM (eXtended Module),
-IT (Impulse Tracker), NSF(E) (NES music), SID (C64 music), EXIV2, JPEG, GIF,
-PNG, TIFF, DEB, RPM, TAR(.GZ), LZH, LHA, RAR, ZIP, CAB, 7-ZIP, AR, MTREE,
-PAX, CPIO, ISO9660, SHAR, RAW, XAR FLV, REAL, RIFF (AVI), MPEG, QT and ASF.
-Also, various additional MIME types are detected.")
+    "GNU Libextractor is a library for extracting metadata from files.  It
+supports a very large number of file formats, including audio files, document
+files, and archive files.  Each file format is implemented as a plugin, so
+new formats can be added easily.  The package also containes a command-line
+tool to extract metadata from a file and print the results.")
    (license license:gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libextractor/")))
 
@@ -118,21 +108,11 @@ Also, various additional MIME types are detected.")
       ("zlib" ,zlib)))
    (synopsis "C library implementing an HTTP 1.1 server")
    (description
-    "GNU libmicrohttpd is a small C library that is supposed to make it
-easy to run an HTTP server as part of another application.  Key features
-that distinguish GNU Libmicrohttpd from other projects are:
-C library is fast and small;
-API is simple, expressive and fully reentrant;
-implementation is HTTP 1.1 compliant;
-HTTP server can listen on multiple ports;
-four different threading models (select, poll, pthread, thread pool);
-supported platforms include GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Android,
-OS X, W32, Symbian and z/OS;
-support for IPv6;
-support for SHOUTcast;
-support for incremental processing of POST data (optional);
-support for basic and digest authentication (optional);
-support for SSL3 and TLS (requires libgcrypt and libgnutls, optional);
-binary is only about 32k (without TLS/SSL support and other optional features).")
+    "Libmicrohttpd is a small, embeddable HTTP server implemented as a C
+library.  It makes it easy to run an HTTP server as part of another
+application.  The library is fully HTTP 1.1 compliant.  It can listen on
+multiple ports, supports four different threading models, and supports IPv6.
+ It also features security features such as basic and digest authentication
+and support for SSL3 and TLS.")
    (license license:lgpl2.1+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gnupg.scm b/gnu/packages/gnupg.scm
index b3b06e4160d..398650e4092 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gnupg.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gnupg.scm
@@ -71,11 +71,10 @@ Daemon and possibly more in the future.")
     (home-page "http://gnupg.org/")
     (synopsis "Cryptographic function library")
     (description
-     "GNU Libgcrypt is a general purpose cryptographic library based on
-the code from GnuPG.  It provides functions for all
-cryptographic building blocks: symmetric ciphers, hash
-algorithms, MACs, public key algorithms, large integer
-functions, random numbers and a lot of supporting functions.")
+     "Libgcrypt is a general-purpose cryptographic library.  It provides the
+standard cryptographic building blocks such as symmetric ciphers, hash
+algorithms, public key algorithms, large integer functions and random number
+generation.")
     (license lgpl2.0+)))
 
 (define-public libassuan
@@ -165,15 +164,10 @@ specifications are building blocks of S/MIME and TLS.")
     (home-page "http://gnupg.org/")
     (synopsis "GNU Privacy Guard")
     (description
-     "GnuPG is the GNU project's complete and free implementation of
-the OpenPGP standard as defined by RFC4880.  GnuPG allows to
-encrypt and sign your data and communication, features a
-versatile key managment system as well as access modules for all
-kind of public key directories.  GnuPG, also known as GPG, is a
-command line tool with features for easy integration with other
-applications.  A wealth of frontend applications and libraries
-are available.  Version 2 of GnuPG also provides support for
-S/MIME.")
+     "The GNU Privacy Guard is a complete implementation of the OpenPGP
+standard.  It is used to encrypt and sign data and communication.  It
+features powerful key management and the ability to access public key
+servers.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public gpgme
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gnutls.scm b/gnu/packages/gnutls.scm
index 766731e2890..ce13d81dfbf 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gnutls.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gnutls.scm
@@ -46,9 +46,10 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/")
     (synopsis "ASN.1 library")
     (description
-     "Libtasn1 is the ASN.1 library used by GnuTLS, GNU Shishi and some
-other packages.  The goal of this implementation is to be highly
-portable, and only require an ANSI C89 platform.")
+     "Libtasn1 is a library implementing the ASN.1 notation.  It is used for
+transmitting machine-neutral encodings of data objects in computer
+networking, allowing for formal validation of data according to some
+specifications.")
     (license lgpl2.0+)))
 
 (define-public gnutls
@@ -79,15 +80,8 @@ portable, and only require an ANSI C89 platform.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/")
     (synopsis "Transport layer security library")
     (description
-     "GnuTLS is a project that aims to develop a library which provides
-a secure layer, over a reliable transport layer. Currently the GnuTLS
-library implements the proposed standards by the IETF's TLS working
-group.
-
-Quoting from the TLS protocol specification:
-
-\"The TLS protocol provides communications privacy over the
-Internet. The protocol allows client/server applications to communicate
-in a way that is designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, or
-message forgery.\"")
+     "GnuTLS is a secure communications library implementing the SSL, TLS
+and DTLS protocols.  It is provided in the form of a C library to the
+protocols, as well as to parse and write X.5009, PKCS 12, OpenPGP and other
+required structures.")
     (license lgpl2.1+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gperf.scm b/gnu/packages/gperf.scm
index 3a9d2d97d82..d9e80337d4f 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gperf.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gperf.scm
@@ -39,15 +39,8 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gperf/")
     (synopsis "Perfect hash function generator")
     (description
-     "GNU gperf is a perfect hash function generator.  For a given
-list of strings, it produces a hash function and hash table, in
-form of C or C++ code, for looking up a value depending on the
-input string.  The hash function is perfect, which means that
-the hash table has no collisions, and the hash table lookup
-needs a single string comparison only.
-
-GNU gperf is highly customizable.  There are options for
-generating C or C++ code, for emitting switch statements or
-nested ifs instead of a hash table, and for tuning the algorithm
-employed by gperf.")
+     "gperf is a perfect hash function generator.  For a given list of strings,
+it produces a hash function and hash table in C or C++ code. That the hash
+function is perfect means that no collisions can exist and that look-ups can be
+made by single string comparisons.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gprolog.scm b/gnu/packages/gprolog.scm
index f82a1a13f4f..ad887cccaa1 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gprolog.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gprolog.scm
@@ -48,24 +48,8 @@
     (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/gprolog/")
     (synopsis "Prolog compiler")
     (description
-     "GNU Prolog is a free Prolog compiler with constraint solving over
-finite domains developed by Daniel Diaz.
-
-GNU Prolog accepts Prolog+constraint programs and produces native
-binaries (like gcc does from a C source).  The obtained executable is
-then stand-alone.  The size of this executable can be quite small since
-GNU Prolog can avoid to link the code of most unused built-in
-predicates.  The performances of GNU Prolog are very
-encouraging (comparable to commercial systems).
-
-Beside the native-code compilation, GNU Prolog offers a classical
-interactive interpreter (top-level) with a debugger.
-
-The Prolog part conforms to the ISO standard for Prolog with many
-extensions very useful in practice (e.g., global variables, OS
-interface, sockets).
-
-GNU Prolog also includes an efficient constraint solver over finite domains.
-This opens contraint logic programming to the user combining the power of
-constraint programming to the declarativity of logic programming.")
+     "GNU Prolog is a standards-compliant Prolog compiler with constraint
+solving over finite domains.  It accepts Prolog+ constraint programs and
+produces a compiled, native binary which can function in a stand- alone
+manner.  It also features an interactive interpreter.")
     (license (list gpl2+ lgpl3+))))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/groff.scm b/gnu/packages/groff.scm
index 0bdb67f0bb5..2c5510a20eb 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/groff.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/groff.scm
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@
              ("texinfo" ,texinfo)))
    (synopsis "Typesetting from plain text mixed with formatting commands")
    (description
-    "GNU Troff (Groff) is a software typesetting package which reads plain
-text mixed with formatting commands and produces formatted output.")
+    "The groff is a typesetting package that reads plain text and produces
+formatted output based on formatting commands contained within the text.  It
+is used particularly often in the formatting of \"man\" documentation pages.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/grub.scm b/gnu/packages/grub.scm
index 7ac5822395b..ba1fd8fabcf 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/grub.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/grub.scm
@@ -99,12 +99,10 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/")
     (synopsis "GRand unified boot loader")
     (description
-     "GNU GRUB is a Multiboot boot loader. It was derived from GRUB, GRand
-Unified Bootloader, which was originally designed and implemented by Erich
-Stefan Boleyn.
-
-Briefly, the boot loader is the first software program that runs when a
-computer starts.  It is responsible for loading and transferring control to
-the operating system kernel software (such as the Hurd or the Linux).  The
-kernel, in turn, initializes the rest of the operating system (e.g., GNU).")
+     "GRUB is a multiboot bootloader.  It is used for initially loading the
+kernel of an operating system and then transfering control to it. The kernel
+then goes on to load the rest of the operating system.  As a multiboot boot
+loader, GRUB handles the presence of multiple operating systems installed on
+the same computer; upon booting the computer, the user is presented with a
+menu to select one of the installed operating systems.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gsasl.scm b/gnu/packages/gsasl.scm
index 8b5b2b59f64..11f856f3cde 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gsasl.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gsasl.scm
@@ -63,10 +63,12 @@
             ))
    (synopsis "Generic Security Service library")
    (description
-    "GNU GSS is an implementation of the Generic Security Service Application
-Program Interface (GSS-API). GSS-API is used by network servers to provide
-security services, e.g., to authenticate SMTP/IMAP clients against
-SMTP/IMAP servers. GSS consists of a library and a manual.")
+    "The GNU Generic Security Service provides a free implementation of the
+GSS-API specification.  It provides a generic application programming
+interface for programs to access security services. Security services present
+a generic, GSS interface, with which the calling application interacts via
+this library, freeing the application developer from needing to know about
+the underlying security implementation.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gss/")))
 
@@ -91,25 +93,9 @@ SMTP/IMAP servers. GSS consists of a library and a manual.")
     `(("gnutls" ,gnutls)))
    (synopsis "Simple Authentication and Security Layer library")
    (description
-    "GNU SASL is an implementation of the Simple Authentication and Security
-Layer framework and a few common SASL mechanisms. SASL is used by network
-servers (e.g., IMAP, SMTP) to request authentication from clients, and in
-clients to authenticate against servers.
-
-GNU SASL consists of a library (libgsasl), a command line utility (gsasl)
-to access the library from the shell, and a manual. The library includes
-support for the framework (with authentication functions and application
-data privacy and integrity functions) and at least partial support for the
-CRAM-MD5, EXTERNAL, GSSAPI, ANONYMOUS, PLAIN, SECURID, DIGEST-MD5,
-SCRAM-SHA-1, SCRAM-SHA-1-PLUS, LOGIN, and NTLM mechanisms.
-
-The library is portable because it does not do network communication by
-itself, but rather leaves it up to the calling application. The library is
-flexible with regards to the authorization infrastructure used, as it
-utilises callbacks into the application to decide whether an user is
-authorised or not.
-
-The gsasl package distribution includes the library part as well,
-so there is no need to install two packages.")
+    "GNU SASL is an implementation of the Simple Authentication and
+Security Layer framework.  On network servers such as IMAP or SMTP servers,
+SASL is used to handle client/server authentication.  This package contains
+both a library and a command-line tool to access the library.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/guile.scm b/gnu/packages/guile.scm
index dfad70884c3..653d42c1b23 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/guile.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/guile.scm
@@ -95,9 +95,11 @@
 
    (synopsis "Scheme implementation intended especially for extensions")
    (description
-"GNU Guile 1.8 is an interpreter for the Scheme programming language,
-packaged as a library that can be embedded into programs to make them
-extensible.  It supports many SRFIs.")
+    "Guile is the GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language for Extensions, the
+official extension language of the GNU system.  It is an implementation of
+the Scheme language which can be easily embedded in other applications to
+provide a convenient means of extending the functionality of the application
+without requiring the source code to be rewritten.")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/")
    (license lgpl2.0+)))
 
@@ -164,12 +166,11 @@ extensible.  It supports many SRFIs.")
 
    (synopsis "Scheme implementation intended especially for extensions")
    (description
-"GNU Guile is an implementation of the Scheme programming language, with
-support for many SRFIs, packaged for use in a wide variety of environments.
-In addition to implementing the R5RS Scheme standard and a large subset of
-R6RS, Guile includes a module system, full access to POSIX system calls,
-networking support, multiple threads, dynamic linking, a foreign function
-call interface, and powerful string processing.")
+    "Guile is the GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language for Extensions, the
+official extension language of the GNU system.  It is an implementation of
+the Scheme language which can be easily embedded in other applications to
+provide a convenient means of extending the functionality of the application
+without requiring the source code to be rewritten.")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/")
    (license lgpl3+)))
 
@@ -264,10 +265,7 @@ many readers as needed).")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/guile-ncurses/")
     (synopsis "Guile bindings to ncurses")
     (description
-     "GNU Guile-Ncurses is a library for the Guile Scheme interpreter that
-provides functions for creating text user interfaces.  The text user interface
-functionality is built on the ncurses libraries: curses, form, panel, and
-menu.")
+     "guile-ncurses provides guile bindings to the ncurses library.")
     (license lgpl3+)))
 
 (define-public mcron
@@ -288,11 +286,10 @@ menu.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/")
     (synopsis "Run jobs at scheduled times")
     (description
-     "The GNU package mcron (Mellor's cron) is a 100% compatible replacement
-for Vixie cron.  It is written in pure Guile, and allows configuration files
-to be written in scheme (as well as Vixie's original format) for infinite
-flexibility in specifying when jobs should be run.  Mcron was written by Dale
-Mellor.")
+     "Mcron is a complete replacement for Vixie cron.  It is used to run
+tasks on a schedule, such as every hour or every Monday.  Mcron is written in
+Guile, so its configuration can be written in Scheme, however the original
+cron format is also supported.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public guile-lib
diff --git a/gnu/packages/gv.scm b/gnu/packages/gv.scm
index 1fd2d50324c..f573e312df5 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/gv.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/gv.scm
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@
              ("zlib" ,zlib)))
    (synopsis "PostScript and PDF viewer using Ghostscript as a back-end")
    (description
-    "GNU gv allows to view and navigate through PostScript and PDF documents
-on an X display by providing a graphical user interface for the Ghostscript
-interpreter.")
+    "GV is a graphical user interface to the Ghostscript interpreter. With
+it, one can view and navigate through PostScript and PDF documents in X
+Windows.")
    (license license:gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gv/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/help2man.scm b/gnu/packages/help2man.scm
index 021677593c2..6644370b715 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/help2man.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/help2man.scm
@@ -47,6 +47,6 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/")
     (synopsis "Automatically generate man pages from program --help")
     (description
-     "help2man produces simple manual pages from the ‘--help’ and
-‘--version’ output of other commands.")
+     "help2man is a program that converts the output of standard \"--help\"
+and \"--version\" command-line arguments into a manual page automatically.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/idutils.scm b/gnu/packages/idutils.scm
index 16ccd488541..11dd6ea4d48 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/idutils.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/idutils.scm
@@ -43,22 +43,9 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/idutils/")
     (synopsis "Identifier database utilities")
     (description
-     "An \"ID database\" is a binary file containing a list of file
-names, a list of tokens, and a sparse matrix indicating which
-tokens appear in which files.
-
-With this database and some tools to query it, many
-text-searching tasks become simpler and faster.  For example,
-you can list all files that reference a particular `\\#include'
-file throughout a huge source hierarchy, search for all the
-memos containing references to a project, or automatically
-invoke an editor on all files containing references to some
-function or variable.  Anyone with a large software project to
-maintain, or a large set of text files to organize, can benefit
-from the ID utilities.
-
-Although the name `ID' is short for `identifier', the ID
-utilities handle more than just identifiers; they also treat
-other kinds of tokens, most notably numeric constants, and the
-contents of certain character strings.")
+     "ID Utils provides tools to create an index if textual tokens used in a
+list of file names and to then query that index.  Thus, it allows the user
+to, for example, find all the uses of a particular function in all files of a
+large programming project.  In addition to handling textual tokens, it can
+also handle numeric constants and the contents of character strings.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/indent.scm b/gnu/packages/indent.scm
index 3ae1c9e94a3..4a5d52b89fe 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/indent.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/indent.scm
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (synopsis "Code reformatter")
    (description
-    "GNU Indent can be used to make code easier to read. It can also convert
-from one style of writing C to another. Indent understands a substantial
-amount about the syntax of C, but it also attempts to cope with incomplete
-and misformed syntax. The GNU style of indenting is the default.")
+    "Indent is a program that makes source code easier to read by
+reformatting it in a consistetn style.  It can change the style to one of
+several different styles such as GNU, BSD or K&R.  It has some flexibility to
+deal with incomplete or malformed syntax.")
    (license license:gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/indent/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/less.scm b/gnu/packages/less.scm
index ced14704ff3..a1914b69532 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/less.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/less.scm
@@ -40,10 +40,9 @@
     (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/less/")
     (synopsis "Paginator for terminals")
     (description
-     "GNU less is a program similar to more, but which allows backward
-movement in the file as well as forward movement. Also, less does not
-have to read the entire input file before starting, so with large input
-files it starts up faster than text editors like vi. Less uses
-termcap (or terminfo on some systems), so it can run on a variety of
-terminals. There is even limited support for hardcopy terminals.")
+     "GNU less is a pager, a program that allows you to view large amounts
+of text in page-sized chunks.  Unlike traditional pagers, it allows both
+backwards and forwards movement through the document.  It also does not have
+to read the entire input file before starting, so it starts faster than most
+text editors.")
     (license gpl3+))) ; some files are under GPLv2+
diff --git a/gnu/packages/libidn.scm b/gnu/packages/libidn.scm
index 786b3a2e3a8..954b30a972d 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/libidn.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/libidn.scm
@@ -37,15 +37,8 @@
 ;; FIXME: No Java and C# libraries are currently built.
    (synopsis "Internationalized string processing library")
    (description
-    "GNU Libidn is a fully documented implementation of the Stringprep,
-Punycode and IDNA specifications. Libidn's purpose is to encode and decode
-internationalised domain names.
-
-The library contains a generic Stringprep implementation. Profiles for
-Nameprep, iSCSI, SASL, XMPP and Kerberos V5 are included. Punycode and
-ASCII Compatible Encoding (ACE) via IDNA are supported. A mechanism to
-define Top-Level Domain (TLD) specific validation tables, and to compare
-strings against those tables, is included.
-Default tables for some TLDs are also included.")
+    "The GNU IDN Libary is an implementation of the Stringprep, Punycode
+and IDNA specifications.  These are used to encode and decode
+internationalized domain names.  It includes native C, C# and Java libraries.")
    (license lgpl2.1+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/libsigsegv.scm b/gnu/packages/libsigsegv.scm
index 62fb40737ac..818908890e9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/libsigsegv.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/libsigsegv.scm
@@ -52,10 +52,8 @@
                     %standard-phases))
         '()))
    (description
-"GNU libsigsegv is a library for handling page faults in user mode. A page
-fault occurs when a program tries to access to a region of memory that is
-currently not available. Catching and handling a page fault is a useful
-technique for implementing pageable virtual memory, memory-mapped access to
-persistent databases, generational garbage collectors, stack overflow
-handlers, distributed shared memory, and more.")
+    "libsigsegv is a library to handle page faults, which occur when a
+program tries to access an unavailable region of memory, in user mode.  By
+catching and handling page faults, the program can implement pageable virtual
+memory, stack overflow handlers, and so on.")
    (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/libunistring.scm b/gnu/packages/libunistring.scm
index 2dbfee70f19..96d0922a7be 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/libunistring.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/libunistring.scm
@@ -38,20 +38,7 @@
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (synopsis "C library for manipulating Unicode strings")
    (description
-    "This library provides functions for manipulating Unicode strings and for
-manipulating C strings according to the Unicode standard.
-
-GNU libunistring is for you if your application involves non-trivial text
-processing, such as upper/lower case conversions, line breaking, operations
-on words, or more advanced analysis of text.  Text provided by the user can,
-in general, contain characters of all kinds of scripts.  The text processing
-functions provided by this library handle all scripts and all languages.
-
-libunistring is for you if your application already uses the ISO C / POSIX
-<ctype.h>, <wctype.h> functions and the text it operates on is provided by
-the user and can be in any language.
-
-libunistring is also for you if your application uses Unicode strings as
-internal in-memory representation.")
+    "Libunistring is a library providing functions to manipulate Unicode
+strings and for manipulating C strings according to the Unicode standard.")
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/")
    (license lgpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/lightning.scm b/gnu/packages/lightning.scm
index 05cc447eecb..03255e06176 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/lightning.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/lightning.scm
@@ -36,9 +36,9 @@
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
     (synopsis "Library for generating assembly code at runtime")
     (description
-     "GNU lightning is a library that generates assembly language code at
-run-time; it is very fast, making it ideal for Just-In-Time compilers, and it
-abstracts over the target CPU, as it exposes to the clients a standardized
-RISC instruction set inspired by the MIPS and SPARC chips.")
+     "GNU Lightning is a library that generates assembly language code at
+run-time.  Thus, it is useful in creating Just-In-Time compilers.  It
+abstracts over the target CPU by exposing a standardized RISC instruction set
+to the clients.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/lightning/")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/linux.scm b/gnu/packages/linux.scm
index 2481fc3628f..b53c02e1dcb 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/linux.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/linux.scm
@@ -207,7 +207,9 @@
                   (alist-delete 'configure %standard-phases)))
        #:tests? #f))
     (synopsis "100% free redistribution of a cleaned Linux kernel")
-    (description "Linux-Libre operating system kernel.")
+    (description
+     "Linux Libre is a free (as in freedom) variant of the Linux kernel. It
+has been modified to remove any non-free binary blobs.")
     (license gpl2)
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/linux-libre/"))))
 
diff --git a/gnu/packages/lsh.scm b/gnu/packages/lsh.scm
index b8c155453ff..58040839e1a 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/lsh.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/lsh.scm
@@ -119,7 +119,9 @@ basis for almost any application.")
     (home-page "http://www.lysator.liu.se/~nisse/lsh/")
     (synopsis "GNU implementation of the Secure Shell (ssh) protocols")
     (description
-     "lsh is a free implementation (in the GNU sense) of the ssh
-version 2 protocol, currently being standardised by the IETF
-SECSH working group.")
+     "lsh is a free implementation of the SSH version 2 protocol.  It is
+used to create a secure line of communication between two computers,
+providing shell access to the server system from the client.  It provides
+both the server daemon and the client application, as well as tools for
+manipulating key files.")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/m4.scm b/gnu/packages/m4.scm
index 17ca7c84405..f341b246a2b 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/m4.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/m4.scm
@@ -59,18 +59,10 @@
               ,(search-patch "m4-readlink-EINVAL.patch"))))
    (synopsis "Macro processor")
    (description
-    "GNU M4 is an implementation of the traditional Unix macro processor.  It
-is mostly SVR4 compatible although it has some extensions (for example,
-handling more than 9 positional parameters to macros).  GNU M4 also has
-built-in functions for including files, running shell commands, doing
-arithmetic, etc.
-
-GNU M4 is a macro processor in the sense that it copies its input to the
-output expanding macros as it goes.  Macros are either builtin or
-user-defined and can take any number of arguments.  Besides just doing macro
-expansion, m4 has builtin functions for including named files, running UNIX
-commands, doing integer arithmetic, manipulating text in various ways,
-recursion etc...  m4 can be used either as a front-end to a compiler or as a
-macro processor in its own right.")
+    "GNU M4 is an implementation of the M4 macro language, which features
+some extensions over other implementations.  It is used as a macro processor,
+which means it processes text, expanding macros as it encounters them.  It
+also has some built-in functionns, for example to run shell commands or to do
+arithmetic.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/mail.scm b/gnu/packages/mail.scm
index ce41b087e8d..d355d1e72cc 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/mail.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/mail.scm
@@ -86,23 +86,11 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/mailutils/")
     (synopsis "Utilities and library for reading and serving mail")
     (description
-     "GNU Mailutils is a rich and powerful protocol-independent mail
-framework.  It contains a series of useful mail libraries, clients, and
-servers.  These are the primary mail utilities for the GNU system.  The
-central library is capable of handling electronic mail in various
-mailbox formats and protocols, both local and remote.  Specifically,
-this project contains a POP3 server, an IMAP4 server, and a Sieve mail
-filter.  It also provides a POSIX `mailx' client, and a collection of
-other handy tools.
-
-The GNU Mailutils libraries supply an ample set of primitives for
-handling electronic mail in programs written in C, C++, Python or
-Scheme.
-
-The utilities provided by Mailutils include imap4d and pop3d mail
-servers, mail reporting utility comsatd, general-purpose mail delivery
-agent maidag, mail filtering program sieve, and an implementation of MH
-message handling system.")
+     "Mailutils is a \"swiss army knife of electronic mail handling.\"  It is
+a suite of programs for managing, viewing and processing e-mail.  It contains
+both utilities and server daemons and all operate in a protocol-agnostic way.
+ The underlying libraries are also made available, making adding mail
+capabilities to new software simple.")
     (license
      ;; Libraries are under LGPLv3+, and programs under GPLv3+.
      (list gpl3+ lgpl3+))))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/maths.scm b/gnu/packages/maths.scm
index 03920965639..4ff7143f86b 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/maths.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/maths.scm
@@ -44,25 +44,11 @@
    (build-system gnu-build-system)
    (synopsis "Conversion between thousands of scales")
    (description
-    "GNU Units converts quantities expressed in various systems of
-measurement to their equivalents in other systems of measurement.  Like
-many similar programs, it can handle multiplicative scale changes.  It can
-also handle nonlinear conversions such as Fahrenheit to Celsius or wire
-gauge, and it can convert from and to sums of units, such as converting
-between meters and feet plus inches.
-
-Beyond simple unit conversions, GNU Units can be used as a general-purpose
-scientific calculator that keeps track of units in its calculations.  You
-can form arbitrary complex mathematical expressions of dimensions including
-sums, products, quotients, powers, and even roots of dimensions.  Thus you
-can ensure accuracy and dimensional consistency when working with long
-expressions that involve many different units that may combine in complex
-ways.
-
-The units are defined in an external data file.  You can use the extensive
-data file that comes with this program, or you can provide your own data
-file to suit your needs.  You can also use your own data file to supplement
-the standard data file.")
+    "Units is a program for converting measured quantities between units of
+measure.  It can handle scale changes through adaptive usage of standard
+scale prefixes (i.e. micro-, kilo-, etc.).  It can also handle nonlinear
+conversions such as Fahrenheit to Celcius.  Its interpreter is powerful
+enough to be used effectively as a scientific calculator.")
    (license license:gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/units/")))
 
@@ -95,14 +81,11 @@ the standard data file.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/")
     (synopsis "Numerical library for C and C++")
     (description
-     "The GNU Scientific Library (GSL) is a numerical library for C
-and C++ programmers.  It is free software under the GNU General
-Public License.
-
-The library provides a wide range of mathematical routines such
-as random number generators, special functions and least-squares
-fitting.  There are over 1000 functions in total with an
-extensive test suite.")
+     "The GNU Scientific Library is a library for numerical analysis in C
+and C++.  It includes a wide range of mathematical routines, with over 1000
+functions in total.  Subject areas covered by the library include:
+differential equations, linear algebra, Fast Fourier Transforms and random
+numbers.")
     (license license:gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public pspp
@@ -134,13 +117,10 @@ extensive test suite.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/")
     (synopsis "Statistical analysis")
     (description
-     "PSPP is a program for statistical analysis of sampled data.  It is a
-free replacement for the proprietary program SPSS, and appears very similar
-to it.
-
-PSPP can perform descriptive statistics, T-tests, anova, linear and logistic
-regression, cluster analysis, factor analysis, non-parametric tests and
-more.  Its backend is designed to perform its analyses as fast as possible,
-regardless of the size of the input data.  You can use PSPP with its
-graphical interface or the more traditional syntax commands.")
+     "PSPP is a statistical analysis program.  It can perform descriptive
+statistics, T-tests, linear regression and non-parametric tests.  It features
+both a graphical interface as well as command-line input. PSPP is designed to
+interoperate with Gnumeric, LibreOffice and OpenOffice.  Data can be imported
+from spreadsheets, text files and database sources and it can be output in
+text, Postscript, PDF or HTML.")
     (license license:gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/multiprecision.scm b/gnu/packages/multiprecision.scm
index 16383d1ec1b..6692d26b59b 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/multiprecision.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/multiprecision.scm
@@ -46,25 +46,11 @@
                   "--enable-cxx")))
    (synopsis "Multiple-precision arithmetic library")
    (description
-    "GMP is a free library for arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating on
-signed integers, rational numbers, and floating point numbers.  There is no
-practical limit to the precision except the ones implied by the available
-memory in the machine GMP runs on.  GMP has a rich set of functions, and the
-functions have a regular interface.
-
-The main target applications for GMP are cryptography applications and
-research, Internet security applications, algebra systems, computational
-algebra research, etc.
-
-GMP is carefully designed to be as fast as possible, both for small operands
-and for huge operands.  The speed is achieved by using fullwords as the basic
-arithmetic type, by using fast algorithms, with highly optimised assembly
-code for the most common inner loops for a lot of CPUs, and by a general
-emphasis on speed.
-
-GMP is faster than any other bignum library.  The advantage for GMP increases
-with the operand sizes for many operations, since GMP uses asymptotically
-faster algorithms.")
+    "GMP is a library for arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating on
+signed integers, rational numbers and floating point numbers.  The precision
+is only limited by the available memory.  The library is highly optimized,
+with a design focus on execution speed.  It is aimed at use in, for example,
+cryptography and computational algebra.")
    (license lgpl3+)
    (home-page "http://gmplib.org/")))
 
@@ -83,14 +69,8 @@ faster algorithms.")
    (propagated-inputs `(("gmp" ,gmp)))            ; <mpfr.h> refers to <gmp.h>
    (synopsis "C library for arbitrary precision floating-point arithmetic")
    (description
-    "The GNU MPFR library is a C library for multiple-precision
-floating-point computations with correct rounding.  MPFR is based on the GMP
-multiple-precision library.
-
-The main goal of MPFR is to provide a library for multiple-precision
-floating-point computation which is both efficient and has a well-defined
-semantics.  It copies the good ideas from the ANSI/IEEE-754 standard for
-double-precision floating-point arithmetic (53-bit mantissa).")
+    "MPFR is a C library for performing multiple-precision, floating-point
+computations with correct rounding.")
    (license lgpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.mpfr.org/")))
 
@@ -110,12 +90,7 @@ double-precision floating-point arithmetic (53-bit mantissa).")
                         ("mpfr" ,mpfr)))
    (synopsis "C library for arbitrary precision complex arithmetic")
    (description
-    "GNU MPC is a C library for the arithmetic of complex numbers with
-arbitrarily high precision and correct rounding of the result. It extends
-the principles of the IEEE-754 standard for fixed precision real floating
-point numbers to complex numbers, providing well-defined semantics for
-every operation. At the same time, speed of operation at high precision
-is a major design goal. The library is built upon and follows the same
-principles as GNU MPFR.")
+    "GNU MPC is a C library for performing arithmetic on complex numbers.
+It supports arbitrarily high precision and it correctly rounds the results.")
    (license lgpl3+)
    (home-page "http://mpc.multiprecision.org/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/nano.scm b/gnu/packages/nano.scm
index 6ded15df2ae..c936ca552c1 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/nano.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/nano.scm
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@
     (home-page "http://www.nano-editor.org/")
     (synopsis "Small, user-friendly console text editor")
     (description
-     "GNU nano is designed to be a free replacement for the Pico text
-editor, part of the Pine email suite from The University of
-Washington. It aims to emulate Pico as closely as possible and perhaps
-include extra functionality.")
+     "nano is a small and simple text editor.  In addition to basic
+editing, it supports interactive search and replace, go to line and column
+number, auto-indentation and more.")
     (license gpl3+))) ; some files are under GPLv2+
diff --git a/gnu/packages/ncurses.scm b/gnu/packages/ncurses.scm
index e5a9bce0f1e..c6dd98a8019 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/ncurses.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/ncurses.scm
@@ -130,14 +130,9 @@
      (self-native-input? #t)                      ; for `tic'
      (synopsis "Terminal emulation (termcap, terminfo) library")
      (description
-      "The Ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of curses
-in System V Release 4.0, and more.  It uses Terminfo format, supports pads
-and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key
-mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD Curses.
-
-The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.  It has been in use for some
-time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as
-an external package.  It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
-UNIX.  It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!")
+      "Ncurses is a library which provides capabilities to write text to a
+terminal in a terminal-independent manner.  It supports pads and color as
+well as multiple highlights and forms characters.  It is typically used to
+implement user interfaces for command-line applications.")
      (license x11)
      (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/"))))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/nettle.scm b/gnu/packages/nettle.scm
index b8ba9bf04ad..f93c9149960 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/nettle.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/nettle.scm
@@ -41,20 +41,7 @@
     (home-page "http://www.lysator.liu.se/~nisse/nettle/")
     (synopsis "C library for low-level crytographic functionality")
     (description
-     "Nettle is a cryptographic library that is designed to fit easily
-in more or less any context: In crypto toolkits for object-oriented
-languages (C++, Python, Pike, ...), in applications like LSH or GNUPG,
-or even in kernel space.  In most contexts, you need more than the basic
-cryptographic algorithms, you also need some way to keep track of
-available algorithms, their properties and variants.  You often have
-some algorithm selection process, often dictated by a protocol you want
-to implement.
-
-And as the requirements of applications differ in subtle and not so
-subtle ways, an API that fits one application well can be a pain to use
-in a different context.  And that is why there are so many different
-cryptographic libraries around.  \nNettle tries to avoid this problem by
-doing one thing, the low-level crypto stuff, and providing a simple but
-general interface to it.  In particular, Nettle doesn't do algorithm
-selection.  It doesn't do memory allocation. It doesn't do any I/O.")
+     "Nettle is a low-level cryptographic library.  It is designed to fit in
+easily in almost any context.  It can be easily included in cryptographic
+toolkits for object-oriented languages or in applications themselves.")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/ocrad.scm b/gnu/packages/ocrad.scm
index f6bc112a8c2..d1b56791d83 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/ocrad.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/ocrad.scm
@@ -40,14 +40,7 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/ocrad/")
     (synopsis "Optical character recognition based on feature extraction")
     (description
-     "GNU Ocrad is an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program based on a
-feature extraction method.  It reads images in pbm (bitmap), pgm
- (greyscale) or ppm (color) formats and produces text in byte (8-bit)
-or UTF-8 formats.
-
-Also includes a layout analyser able to separate the columns or blocks of text
-normally found on printed pages.
-
-Ocrad can be used as a stand-alone console application, or as a backend to
-other programs.")
+     "Ocrad is an optical character recognition program based on a feature
+extraction method.  It can read images in PBM, PGM or PPM formats and it
+produces text in 8-bit or UTF-8 formats.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/oggvorbis.scm b/gnu/packages/oggvorbis.scm
index cd9e60862ea..0652ec3bedf 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/oggvorbis.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/oggvorbis.scm
@@ -105,10 +105,10 @@ polyphonic) audio and music at fixed and variable bitrates from 16 to
     (home-page "https://gnu.org/software/speex")
     (synopsis "Library for patent-free audio compression format")
     (description
-     "GNU Speex is a patent-free voice codec.  It is designed to
-compress voice at bitrates in the 2--45 kbps range.  Possible
-applications include VoIP, internet audio streaming, archiving of speech
-data (e.g., voice mail), and audio books.")
+     "Speex is a patent-free audio compression codec specially designed for
+speech.  It is well-adapted to internet applications, such as VoIP. It
+features compression of different bands in the same bitstream, intensity
+stereo encoding, and voice activity detection.")
     ;; 'src/getopt.c' is under LGPLv2+
     (license (license:bsd-style "file://COPYING"
                                 "See COPYING in the distribution."))))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/parted.scm b/gnu/packages/parted.scm
index 1f266c90352..9d835d6b6c4 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/parted.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/parted.scm
@@ -60,11 +60,6 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/")
     (synopsis "Disk partition editor")
     (description
-     "GNU Parted is an industrial-strength package for creating, destroying,
-resizing, checking and copying partitions, and the file systems on them.  This
-is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganising disk
-usage, copying data on hard disks and disk imaging.
-
-It contains a library, libparted, and a command-line frontend, parted, which
-also serves as a sample implementation and script backend.")
+     "Parted is a tool for creating and manipulating disk partition tables.
+It consists of a library and a command-line tool for performing these tasks.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/plotutils.scm b/gnu/packages/plotutils.scm
index 0b12665a615..090d07c39b9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/plotutils.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/plotutils.scm
@@ -46,15 +46,9 @@
      "http://www.gnu.org/software/plotutils/")
     (synopsis "Plotting utilities and library")
     (description
-     "The GNU plotutils package contains software for both programmers and
-technical users.  Its centerpiece is libplot, a powerful C/C++ function
-library for exporting 2-D vector graphics in many file formats, both vector
-and raster.  It can also do vector graphics animations.
-
-libplot is device-independent in the sense that its API (application
-programming interface) does not depend on the type of graphics file to be
-exported.
-
-Besides libplot, the package contains command-line programs for plotting
-scientific data.  Many of them use libplot to export graphics.")
+     "Plotutils is a collection of utilities for plotting and working with
+2D graphics.  It includes a library, libplot, for C and C++ for exporting 2D
+vector graphics in many file formats.  It also has support for 2D vector
+graphics animations.  The package also contains command-line programs for
+plotting scientific data.")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/pth.scm b/gnu/packages/pth.scm
index c3f572574e5..e7068a52408 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/pth.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/pth.scm
@@ -39,23 +39,11 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/pth")
     (synopsis "Portable thread library")
     (description
-     "Pth is a very portable POSIX/ANSI-C based library for Unix
-platforms which provides non-preemptive priority-based scheduling for
-multiple threads of execution (aka ``multithreading'') inside
-event-driven applications. All threads run in the same address space of
-the server application, but each thread has it's own individual
-program-counter, run-time stack, signal mask and errno variable.
-
-The thread scheduling itself is done in a cooperative way, i.e., the
-threads are managed by a priority- and event-based non-preemptive
-scheduler. The intention is that this way one can achieve better
-portability and run-time performance than with preemptive
-scheduling. The event facility allows threads to wait until various
-types of events occur, including pending I/O on file descriptors,
-asynchronous signals, elapsed timers, pending I/O on message ports,
-thread and process termination, and even customized callback functions.
-
-Additionally Pth provides an optional emulation API for POSIX.1c
-threads (\"Pthreads\") which can be used for backward compatibility to
-existing multithreaded applications.")
+     "Pth is a portable library providing non-preemptive, priority-based
+scheduling for multiple execution threads.  Each thread has its own
+program-counter, run-time stack, signal mask and errno variable. Threads are
+scheduled in a cooperative way, rather than in the standard preemptive way,
+such that they are managed according to priority and events.  However, Pth
+also features emulation of POSIX.1c threads (\"Pthreads\") for backwards
+compatibility.")
     (license lgpl2.1+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/readline.scm b/gnu/packages/readline.scm
index 8857666fcc4..1fbbd69d7e9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/readline.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/readline.scm
@@ -64,15 +64,10 @@
                              %standard-phases)))
       (synopsis "Edit command lines while typing, with history support")
       (description
-       "The GNU Readline library provides a set of functions for use by
-applications that allow users to edit command lines as they are typed in.
-Both Emacs and vi editing modes are available.  The Readline library includes
-additional functions to maintain a list of previously-entered command lines,
-to recall and perhaps reedit those lines, and perform csh-like history
-expansion on previous commands.
-
-The history facilites are also placed into a separate library, the History
-library, as part of the build process.  The History library may be used
-without Readline in applications which desire its capabilities.")
+       "Readline is a libary that allows users to edit command lines as they
+are typed in.  It can maintain a searchable history of previously entered
+commands, letting you easily recall, edit and re-enter past commands.  It
+features both Emacs-like and vi-like keybindings, making its usage
+comfortable for anyone.")
       (license gpl3+)
       (home-page "http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/readline/"))))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/recutils.scm b/gnu/packages/recutils.scm
index 2182d7385c5..f9c15d332c9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/recutils.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/recutils.scm
@@ -47,8 +47,10 @@
              ("bc" ,bc)))
    (synopsis "Manipulate plain text files as databases")
    (description
-    "GNU recutils is a set of tools and libraries to access human-editable,
-text-based databases called recfiles.  The data is stored as a sequence of
-records, each record containing an arbitrary number of named fields.")
+    "Recutils is a set of tools and libraries for creating and
+manipulating text-based, human-editable databases.  Despite being text-based,
+databases created with Recutils carry all of the expected features such as
+unique fields, primary keys, time stamps and more. Many different field types
+are supported, as is encryption.")
    (license gpl3+)
    (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/recutils/")))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/rush.scm b/gnu/packages/rush.scm
index 20f0e5cae76..f14e2f7202d 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/rush.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/rush.scm
@@ -41,13 +41,8 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/rush/")
     (synopsis "Restricted user (login) shell")
     (description
-     "GNU Rush is a Restricted User Shell, designed for sites providing
-limited remote access to their resources, such as svn or git repositories,
-scp, or the like.  Using a sophisticated configuration file, Rush gives you
-complete control over the command lines that users execute, as well as over
-the usage of system resources, such as virtual memory, CPU time, etc.
-
-In particular, it allows remote programs to be run in a chrooted environment,
-which is important with such programs as sftp-server or scp, that lack this
-ability.")
+     "Rush is a restricted user shell, for systems on which users are to be
+provided with only limited functionality or resources. Administrators set
+user rights via a configuration file which can be used to limit, for example,
+the commands that can be executed, CPU time, or virtual memory usage.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/scheme.scm b/gnu/packages/scheme.scm
index 122262487b3..9a12cb6fdd3 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/scheme.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/scheme.scm
@@ -109,10 +109,8 @@
     (synopsis "Scheme implementation with integrated editor and debugger")
     (description
      "MIT/GNU Scheme is an implementation of the Scheme programming
-language, providing an interpreter, compiler, source-code debugger,
-integrated Emacs-like editor, and a large runtime library.  MIT/GNU
-Scheme is best suited to programming large applications with a rapid
-development cycle.")
+language.  It provides an interpreter, a compiler and a debugger.  It also
+features an integrated Emacs-like editor and a large runtime library.")
     (license gpl2+)))
 
 (define-public bigloo
diff --git a/gnu/packages/screen.scm b/gnu/packages/screen.scm
index 5bace12070e..8fa24e45f21 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/screen.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/screen.scm
@@ -42,20 +42,10 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/")
     (synopsis "Full-screen window manager providing multiple terminals")
     (description
-     "GNU screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical
-terminal between several processes, typically interactive shells. Each virtual
-terminal provides the functions of the DEC VT100 terminal and, in addition,
-several control functions from the ANSI X3.64 (ISO 6429) and ISO 2022 standards
-(e.g., insert/delete line and support for multiple character sets). There is a
-scrollback history buffer for each virtual terminal and a copy-and-paste
-mechanism that allows the user to move text regions between windows. When
-screen is called, it creates a single window with a shell in it (or the
-specified command) and then gets out of your way so that you can use the
-program as you normally would. Then, at any time, you can create new
-(full-screen) windows with other programs in them (including more shells), kill
-the current window, view a list of the active windows, turn output logging on
-and off, copy text between windows, view the scrollback history, switch between
-windows, etc. All windows run their programs completely independent of each
-other. Programs continue to run when their window is currently not visible and
-even when the whole screen session is detached from the users terminal.")
+     "Screen is a terminal window manager that multiplexes a single terminal
+between several processes.  The virtual terminals each provide features such
+as a scroll-back buffer and a copy-and-paste mechanism.  Screen then manages
+the different virtual terminals, allowing you to easily switch between them,
+to detach them from the current session, or even splitting the view to show
+two terminals at once.")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/shishi.scm b/gnu/packages/shishi.scm
index 0a49f47ded5..632791de1a0 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/shishi.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/shishi.scm
@@ -48,9 +48,7 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/shishi/")
     (synopsis "Implementation of the Kerberos 5 network security system")
     (description
-     "Shishi contains a library ('libshishi') that can be used by application
-developers to add support for Kerberos 5.  Shishi contains a command line
-utility ('shishi') that is used by users to acquire and manage tickets (and
-more).  The server side, a Key Distribution Center (KDC), is implemented by
-'shishid', and support X.509 authenticated TLS via GnuTLS.")
+     "Shishi is a free implementation of the Kerberos 5 network security
+system.  It is used to allow non-secure network nodes to communicate in a
+secure manner through client-server mutual authentication via tickets.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/smalltalk.scm b/gnu/packages/smalltalk.scm
index 976e526a7b0..c9d733d5056 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/smalltalk.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/smalltalk.scm
@@ -49,13 +49,7 @@
     (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/")
     (synopsis "Smalltalk environment")
     (description
-     "GNU Smalltalk is a free implementation of the Smalltalk-80 language.
-
-In the Smalltalk language, everything is an object.  This includes numbers,
-executable procedures (methods), stack frames (called method contexts or block
-contexts), etc.  Each object is an \"instance\" of a \"class\".  A class can
-be thought of as a datatype and the set of functions that operate on that
-datatype.  An instance is a particular variable of that datatype.  When you
-want to perform an operation on an object, you send it a \"message\", and the
-object performs an operation that corresponds to that message.")
+     "GNU Smalltalk is a free implementation of the Smalltalk language.  It
+implements the ANSI standard for the language and also includes extra classes
+such as ones for networking and GUI programming.")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/system.scm b/gnu/packages/system.scm
index 6f710fd4d4b..a5d2e675853 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/system.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/system.scm
@@ -51,13 +51,11 @@
     (inputs `(("pkg-config" ,pkg-config)
               ("guile" ,guile-2.0)))
     (synopsis "Daemon managing daemons")
-    (description "'DMD' is a \"Daemon managing Daemons\" (or
-\"Daemons-managing Daemon\"?)---i.e. a service manager that provides a
-replacement for the service-managing capabilities of SysV-init (or any other
-init) with a both powerful and beautiful dependency-based system with a
-convenient interface.  It is intended for use on GNU/Hurd, but it is supposed
-to work on every POSIX-like system where Guile is available.  In particular,
-it has been tested on GNU/Linux.")
+    (description
+     "DMD is a \"daemon-managing daemon,\" meaning it manages the execution of
+system services, replacing similar functionality found in typical init
+systems.  It provides dependency-handling through a convenient interface and
+is based on GNU Guile.")
     (license gpl3+)
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/dmd/")))
 
@@ -120,23 +118,10 @@ application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/pies/")
     (synopsis "Program invocation and execution supervisor")
     (description
-     "The name Pies (pronounced \"p-yes\") stands for Program Invocation
-and Execution Supervisor.  This utility starts and controls execution of
-external programs, called components.  Each component is a stand-alone
-program, which is executed in the foreground.  Upon startup, pies reads
-the list of components from its configuration file, starts them, and
-remains in the background, controlling their execution.  If any of the
-components terminates, the default action of Pies is to restart it.
-However, it can also be programmed to perform a variety of another
-actions such as, e.g., sending mail notifications to the system
-administrator, invoking another external program, etc.
-
-Pies can be used for a wide variety of tasks.  Its most obious use is to
-put in backgound a program which normally cannot detach itself from the
-controlling terminal, such as, e.g., minicom.  It can launch and control
-components of some complex system, such as Jabberd or MeTA1 (and it
-offers much more control over them than the native utilities).  Finally,
-it can replace the inetd utility!")
+     "Pies is a program that supervises the invocation and executiton of
+other programs.  It reads the list of programs to be started from its
+configuration file, executes them, and then monitors their status,
+re-executing them as necessary.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public inetutils
@@ -160,10 +145,8 @@ it can replace the inetd utility!")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/")
     (synopsis "Basic networking utilities")
     (description
-     "The GNU network utilities suite provides the following tools:
-ftp(d), hostname, ifconfig, inetd, logger, ping, rcp, rexec(d),
-rlogin(d), rsh(d), syslogd, talk(d), telnet(d), tftp(d), traceroute,
-uucpd, and whois.")
+     "Inetutils is a collection of common network programs, such as an ftp
+client and server, a telnet client and server, and an rsh client and server.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public shadow
diff --git a/gnu/packages/texinfo.scm b/gnu/packages/texinfo.scm
index 8191bfd64a8..dc41cc43309 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/texinfo.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/texinfo.scm
@@ -43,17 +43,9 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/")
     (synopsis "The GNU documentation format")
     (description
-     "Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project.
-It was invented by Richard Stallman and Bob Chassell many years
-ago, loosely based on Brian Reid's Scribe and other formatting
-languages of the time.  It is used by many non-GNU projects as
-well.
-
-Texinfo uses a single source file to produce output in a number
-of formats, both online and printed (dvi, html, info, pdf, xml,
-etc.).  This means that instead of writing different documents
-for online information and another for a printed manual, you
-need write only one document.  And when the work is revised, you
-need revise only that one document.  The Texinfo system is
-well-integrated with GNU Emacs.")
+     "Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project.  It
+uses a single source file containing TeX-like formatting commands to produce
+a final document in any of several supported output formats, such as HTML or
+PDF.  This package includes both the tools necessary to produce info
+documents from their source as well as the command- line info reader.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/time.scm b/gnu/packages/time.scm
index 8d55905eeca..695ca0a2b36 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/time.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/time.scm
@@ -51,14 +51,7 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/time/")
     (synopsis "Run a command, then display its resource usage")
     (description
-     "The 'time' command runs another program, then displays information
-about the resources used by that program, collected by the system while
-the program was running.  You can select which information is reported
-and the format in which it is shown, or have 'time' save the information
-in a file instead of displaying it on the screen.
-
-The resources that 'time' can report on fall into the general categories
-of time, memory, and I/O and IPC calls.  Some systems do not provide
-much information about program resource use; 'time' reports unavailable
-information as zero values.")
+     "Time is a command that displays information about the resources that a
+program uses.  The display output of the program can be customized or saved
+to a file.")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/unrtf.scm b/gnu/packages/unrtf.scm
index 707543612b7..c98a1d7b6c4 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/unrtf.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/unrtf.scm
@@ -49,9 +49,7 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/unrtf")
     (synopsis "Convert Rich Text Format documents to other formats")
     (description
-     "UnRTF is a command-line program written in C which converts documents in
-Rich Text Format (.rtf) to HTML, LaTeX, troff macros, and RTF
-itself. Converting to HTML, it supports a number of features of Rich Text
-Format, such as changes to the text's font, underlines, text shadowing and
-outlining, and more.")
+     "UnRTF is a program for converting text documents from RTF to HTML,
+LaTeX, or troff macros.  It supports changes in font characteristics,
+underlines and strikethroughs, superscripts and subscripts, and more.")
     (license gpl2+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/version-control.scm b/gnu/packages/version-control.scm
index 04a6ae2a572..30660e830f0 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/version-control.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/version-control.scm
@@ -248,11 +248,9 @@ projects, from individuals to large-scale enterprise operations.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/")
     (synopsis "Per-file local revision control system")
     (description
-     "The GNU Revision Control System (RCS) manages multiple revisions of
-files. RCS automates the storing, retrieval, logging, identification, and
-merging of revisions.  RCS is useful for text that is revised frequently,
-including source code, programs, documentation, graphics, papers, and form
-letters.")
+     "RCS is the Revision Control System.  It is used to manage multiple
+revisions of files.  Revisions are stored as reverse differences generated by
+GNU Diffutils.  RCS also handles identifying and merging revisions.")
     (license gpl3+)))
 
 (define-public cvs
@@ -300,6 +298,10 @@ RCS, PRCS, and Aegis packages.")
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/vc-dwim/")
     (synopsis "Version-control-agnostic ChangeLog diff and commit tool")
     (description
-     "vc-dwim is a version-control-agnostic ChangeLog diff and commit
-tool. vc-chlog is a helper tool for writing GNU-style ChangeLog entries.")
+     "The vc-dwim package contains two tools, \"vc-dwim\" and \"vc-chlog\".
+vc-dwim is a tool that simplifies the task of maintaining a ChangeLog and
+using version control at the same time, for example by printing a reminder
+when a file change has been described in the ChangeLog but the file has not
+been added to the VCS.  vc-chlog scans changed files and generates
+standards-compliant ChangeLog entries based on the changes that it detects.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/wdiff.scm b/gnu/packages/wdiff.scm
index 6aa6b2a67a3..1819977d285 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/wdiff.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/wdiff.scm
@@ -54,11 +54,7 @@
     (home-page "https://www.gnu.org/software/wdiff/")
     (synopsis "Word difference finder")
     (description
-     "GNU Wdiff is a front end to 'diff' for comparing files on a word per
-word basis.  A word is anything between whitespace.  This is useful for
-comparing two texts in which a few words have been changed and for which
-paragraphs have been refilled.  It works by creating two temporary files, one
-word per line, and then executes 'diff' on these files.  It collects the
-'diff' output and uses it to produce a nicer display of word differences
-between the original files.")
+     "Wdiff is a front-end to the diff program from Diffutils that allows
+you to compare files on a word-by-word basis, where a word is anything
+between whitespace.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/wget.scm b/gnu/packages/wget.scm
index 4daa2d8a87a..ab7170a73ca 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/wget.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/wget.scm
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/")
     (synopsis "Non-interactive command-line utility for downloading files")
     (description
-     "GNU Wget is a free software package for retrieving files using HTTP,
-HTTPS and FTP, the most widely-used Internet protocols.  It is a
-non-interactive commandline tool, so it may easily be called from
-scripts, cron jobs, terminals without X-Windows support, etc.")
+     "Wget is a non-interactive tool for fetching files using the HTTP,
+HTTPS and FTP protocols.  It can resume interrupted downloads, use filename
+wild cards, supports proxies and cookies, and it can convert absolute links
+in downloaded documents to relative links.")
     (license gpl3+))) ; some files are under GPLv2+
diff --git a/gnu/packages/which.scm b/gnu/packages/which.scm
index 27d8094b00c..65a4dd79f3d 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/which.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/which.scm
@@ -38,10 +38,6 @@
     (home-page "https://gnu.org/software/which/")
     (synopsis "Find full path of shell commands")
     (description
-     "GNU Which takes one or more arguments. For each of its arguments
-it prints to stdout the full path of the executables that would have
-been executed when this argument had been entered at the shell
-prompt. It does this by searching for an executable or script in the
-directories listed in the environment variable PATH using the same
-algorithm as bash(1).")
+     "which is a program that prints the full paths of executables on a
+system.")
     (license gpl3+))) ; some files are under GPLv2+
diff --git a/gnu/packages/xnee.scm b/gnu/packages/xnee.scm
index 907117d73bd..94842a599c5 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/xnee.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/xnee.scm
@@ -49,8 +49,7 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/xnee/")
     (synopsis "Record, replay and distribute user actions under X11")
     (description
-     "GNU Xnee is a suite of programs that can record, replay and distribute
-user actions under the X11 environment.  Think of it as a robot that can
-imitate the job you just did.  Xnee can be used to automate tests, demonstrate
-programs, distribute actions, record & replay \"macros\", retype a file.")
+     "Xnee is a program that can record, replay and distribute user actions
+in X11.  It can be used to automate user interactions for testing or
+demonstration purposes.")
     (license gpl3+)))
diff --git a/gnu/packages/zile.scm b/gnu/packages/zile.scm
index 4907031c897..0df53a69b8d 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/zile.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/zile.scm
@@ -59,20 +59,6 @@
     (home-page "http://www.gnu.org/software/zile/")
     (synopsis "Zile is lossy Emacs, a lightweight Emacs clone")
     (description
-     "GNU Zile, which is a lightweight Emacs clone.  Zile is short
-for Zile Is Lossy Emacs.  Zile has been written to be as
-similar as possible to Emacs; every Emacs user should feel at
-home.
-
-Zile has all of Emacs's basic editing features: it is 8-bit
-clean (though it currently lacks Unicode support), and the
-number of editing buffers and windows is only limited by
-available memory and screen space respectively.  Registers,
-minibuffer completion and auto fill are available.  Function
-and variable names are identical with Emacs's (except those
-containing the word \"emacs\", which instead contain the word
-\"zile\"!).
-
-However, all of this is packed into a program which typically
-compiles to about 130Kb.")
+     "Zile is a lightweight Emacs clone.  It usage is extremely similar to
+that of Emacs but it carries a much lighter feature set.")
     (license gpl3+)))